Turning Tables
by Princess Jaquline Chess
Summary: AU. What if Bucky had a twin sister? Mary Rose Barnes is not one normal girl, with doors constantly slamming in her face - and questions that need answers - she unintentionally is defying the status quo, with her quest for answers and justice. She's a genius,but this careful girl knows about as much about as love as the Super Soldior she loves. [Set in my Super Girl continuity]
1. As Hard As You Try,

**PJC here! If your reading my Avenger's story Super Girl, I kinda lied when I said this was going to be up for a while. It was truth , but now it's a lie. (My bad)**

 **A book is referenced in this chapter, but I found out it was published pre World War 2. It's true! I thought it was a nice book to reference.**

 **But here you go! In addition to writing this, I will be starting a story that is like the Avenger s Assemble cartoon, with Roxy from Super Girl and Mary Rose from A True Avenger added within their ranks. (I've already got an idea in the works for an episode/chapter) It won't be out until I get a good grip on Super Girl, (meaning I "get through the original work and start Winter Soldior chapters) and Mary Rose has at least gotten to the experimentation of Steve with the serum!**

 **See you later!**

New York City - 1939

New York City was always moving. Weather it be in the wee morning hours with the sun barely starting to rise, or the later hours of the day when the sun began its descent into the sky, someone and somebody was always doing something. Now most people loved it, and Mary Rose Barnes was one of those people.

But just not today, when a large amount of those always moving people were trying to dissuade her.

She moved across the college campus, her brown curls bouncing, a pink bow placed in her hair despite her age, her pink dress perfectly ironed. Her blue eyes sparkled in the sunlight, questions that she would be to scared to ask bubbling behind them in her mind. Mary Rose was by far intelligent, no one could argue, but the fact she was a women often made her the center of some rather cruel looks and taunts.

But no matter, she was used to it. Still, as she hurried to her class- Gentical Sciences- she could hear the taunts.

"Hey doll, what's a pretty thing like you doing here?"

"Are you lost little girl?"

"Hey the kitchens that way!"

Mary Rose pulled her books closer to her chest with a gulp, and pushed open the brown door. She walked through the rows of tan desks, the occupants either looking at the small women, or sharing mean glances amongst themselves.

"Just keep going," she whispered to herself, sitting in a desk in the front stacking her books in front of her. "Just breathe."

She shut her eyes and breathed in, her hand balling in fists on the desk. After a moment, she released her breath and unfurled her fists. She leaned back in her desk, amidst several inappropriate jokes ans scorns being thrown her way. Mary Rose chose to ignore them, some one of her size and stature would not easily fair in standing up for herself. Especially if it got physical.

The door to the class slammed open and shut, and the whole class turned to see a middle-aged man with tan skin and gray hair on top his head and on his face. He wore a lab coat over a red shirt and carried a brief case. "Good morning, class," he said, a German accent unmistakable , "My name is Dr. Erskine."

He made his way through the aisle of desks, and unloaded his briefcase onto the light brown wooden desk in front of him. He turned back around to face the class, a smile on his lips. "This class is full of the best and the brightest, am I correct?"

The class had mixed responses, some where jumping at the complient, smug looks on their faces. Others were taking humility by just nodding or saying yes. Some remained unresponsive, not believing the question even needed to be answered. But Mary just whispered, "Were just the ones who take a test right."

No one else caught it, except for the Doctor, who pretended he did not hear the girls comment. "Well, if you are in fact the brightest, I hope you can prove it. "

From their, the Doctor started the class, and each person took notes, but none as attentively as Mary, her pen racing across the page at a dizzying speed. She hung onto every word, despite the fact that she already knew the information.

At the end of class, while the students were gathering books and leaving, Dr. Erskine approached Mary Rose as she starting to get up.

"Miss,..."

"Barnes, but please call me Mary Rose."

"Well then, Miss Mary Rose, " he said, placing his hands on the tip of her desk, "earlier you said said your just the ones that took tests right. I would like to understand where you came to the conclusion."

Mary Rose sighed, looking down and shutting her eyes. "Our whole school experience is based on tests. That just tests our knowledge, answering questions, getting them right. Getting this far means we knew how to take a test. Starting right now, we have to start asking the questions."

"So," Erksine asked, crossing his arms and pushing up the glasses perched on his nose, "you want to prove you can ask the right questions?"

Mary Rose shook her head, and answered the question, "I don't want to prove anything. I have nothing to prove. I have questions. If I'm only asking a question to prove I can ask, then I don't really want the answer, do I?"

Erskine smiled again, causing laugh lines around his old eyes that held wisdom even now. "Thank you, Miss Mary Rose."

"Your welcome, Dr. Erskine," she said, collecting her books. Mary Rose got up, and walked over to the door, holding her books. Just as she opened the door, she heard the old man call, "Miss Mary Rose?"

She turned back, her curls bouncing. "I look forward to hearing your questions," he said, a smile now larger on his lips. "And, I like your bow."

Mary Rose smiled back at him, and said, "Thank you." She opened the wooden door, and stepped out into the streaming sunlight.

As soon as the door shut, Dr. Erskine said, out loud to noone, "I think I found the right person."

* * *

 _1 Year Later_

The sun just beginning to set in the horizon, and Mary Rose looked up from the book she was engrossed in to see a tall brown haired man and small blonde haired man enter the diner she was in. She worked at the diner every day since she was 16, the money she saved over the years from it, every tip, every paycheck, was going in to the college tuition.

"Bucky!Steve!" she called out to them. She walked from behind the bar, her book still open on the counter. She walked over to them, engrossing them both in a hug. "What are you doing here? You should be at work!"

"Got off early," Bucky said, releasing him and his friend from the bone-gripping hug.

"Lucky," she said turning around, her brown curly ponytail and white bow bouncing. "I have to go to school then come here."

"You decided too, remember?" Bucky said, sitting on the stools in front of the bar. They didn't serve alcoholic beverages, but the establishment had been a bar before, so that had just repainted some of the old furniture instead of taking it out. Mary Rose walked back behind it, shutting the open book.

"Thanks for being supportive," Mary Rose said, although her tone was joking in nature.

"What are big brothers for?" Bucky asked with a shrug.

Mary Rose rolled her eyes, and said, "For the last time: we are twins. Besides, I'm older then you if you wanna go their."

Steve sat dow next to Bucky and said, "Watcha reading?" Steve and Bucky were in no way similar physically, but when sat side-by-side it was most apparent. Bucky was tall, unlike his small best friend and sister, with brown hair, while Steve was a short blonde.

Mary Rose flipped to the cover and read the title. " _The Hobbit."_

Steve smiled, and asked, "Is it any good?"

Mary Rose gave a small smile that she saved only for him and looked into his blue eyes. "It's interesting."

Bucky gave a cough, mumbling something neither Steve or Mary Rose heard. Mary Rose put her book under the bar in a hurry, and turned around, asking, "You guys want some coffee?"

Bucky leaned forward, "Sure, thanks." Steve gave a court nod, and Mary Rose pulled down two coffee mugs and poured the dark liquid into the cups. She placed the cups on the counter, a small splash causing a portion to fall onto her white skirt.

"Whoa, you ok?" Steve asked, as Bucky sipped from his mug.

"I have ketchup on my socks, coffee on my skirt and straws in my pocket," Mary Rose joked with a shrug. "Someone just has to spill a pot roast on me, and I'll be a complete meal!"

"Hey, days still young, the diners slow. You just might get your wish later," Bucky said, raising his glass as if bringing to a toast for the prospect of the idea.

Mary Rose gave him a sideways look, causing Steve to give a laugh.

* * *

Later that night, Mary Rose stepped out into the dark night. She shut the door to the diner behind her, and wrapped her red jacket around her. She shivered in the air, shaking her head. "Should walked home with you Buck," she said, walking down the mostly empty street.

"Miss Mary Rose?" she heard a voice call out to her. She turned to see her professor, Doctor Erskine, walking up to her, wearing a lab coat per usual. Well, technically, he was her former professor, she had moved on from his class.

"Doctor Erskine?" she asked, coming closer to the older man. "Doctor, what are you doing all the way out here in Brooklyn? I thought you lived in Queens?"

"Oh, I do," he explained, showing his hands in his lab coat pockets for warmth. "But I came to speak to you."

"Me?" she asked. She stood their frozen, wondering why he came to speak to her. Mary Rose suddenly remembered just where they were, and pointed her head toward the diner she had just left. "Where are my manners? We go inside the diner, if you want."

The Doctor shook his head, his trademark smile dancing at his lips. "No need, I'll brief. " He came closer to the women, who still stood bewildered with her hands in her pockets. "I've met many people with questions. Questions that needed answers, and they went and found them. For many reasons they wanted answers, weather it be for glory, or whatever reason. But only once before have I seen the drive to get answers you have."

"Is that a bad thing?" she asked, knitting her eyebrows.

"In his case, most definitely yes," he explained, shrugging as if he was complementing his next words. "But you have a spark he didn't. He wanted knowledge to use it against others. You want answers not for yourself, but to use it for others. And everyone slams the door in your face, tells you shouldn't know the answers. But you just reopen the door and step through. You have courage that many people could only dream of having. But I have one question to ask you: if you could know all the answers, but in exchange you betray those helping you with the answers, would you want to know the answer?"

Mary Rose didn't answer at first, and thought about what to say next. She shut her eyes and sighed. "An answer isn't worth having, if you don't have someone who helped you find it to share it with. A discovery is meant for everyone, not just for one."

The man gave a larger, wrinkly smile and said, "That's just the answer I needed to hear."

"Excuse me sir?" she asked with a shake of her head.

"I want to over you a job," he said. "As one of my partners, in a experiment I've been working on."

"Help?" she asked with a blink. She was offering her a job? She was just a girl from Brooklyn with some smarts. Working with the smartest person she had ever known? She was no where near that level intelligence in her opinion. She gave a small sigh, looking down at her white shoes. "I appreciate the offer, but-"

"I know I phrased it as a question, but it was more of a notification," he said, stepping closer to the small women. "You have the intelligence and the morals that I have been searching for for years. I want you on this project."

Mary Rose gulped and shook in the cold. "Did you wait for a cold night so I'll agree quickly so I can get home?"

A smile crept upon the older man's face, and he said, "Ill take that as a yes." He turned around, and Mary Rose called out to him, "Don't I need to know what I'm doing?"

"Come by my my class tomorrow, I'll explain everything," he said, and Mary Rose gave a confused look and a sigh.

"Mary! Mary Rose!" she heard Bucky call, and turned to see him and Steve running up to him, well, Bucky was running, Steve was walking at a fast past while panting. They reached her, Bucky grabbing her elbow just as Steve reached them. "Mary, you should have been home 15 minutes ago, where have you been?"

"I think I just got a job," she said mysteriously, looking into the direction her professor had went. What had she just gotten herself into?

* * *

 _Brooklyn, New York- 1943_

Mary Rose sat carefully at the lab's counter, her blue eyes looking into a microscope. She scribbled something onto a document. Her eyes widened, and she said, "It make's sense now! I just figured it-"

The door slammed open, causing Mary Rose to jump with a cringe. The microscope shifted on the table from her actions. She sighed in frustration. She knew exactly who slammed the door, and she turned around to face him. She was tired of his shenanigans.

"Howard Stark! Can't you close the door like a normal person?" she yelled to the dark haired man, who gave a sly smile.

"Define normal Rosie," he said, sliding into a chair next to the women. He looked at the young girls brown hair, which was down with a yellow bow stuck in it, and said, "Went with yellow today?"

It had become a ritaul of sorts for Howard to ask about her bow and the color of the bow. At first Mary Rose had not been particularity enthusiastic about working with Stark, due to the way he ran through women. But, overtime, Howard and Mary Rose had become good friends. Mary Rose was still slightly wary of the man, but he had grown on her slowly.

She smiled, forgiving the man for messing up her project, and rolled her eyes and picked up her papers and shoving them in a manilla folder. "It's my favorite color. And it matched my shirt," she said, getting up and placing the folder in one of the file cabinets. The bow did match her shirt, the bow and shirt were both the same shade of yellow with a green skirt that somehow did match.

"I just got here, where are you going?"he asked, picking up a vile of blue liquid.

"I have the night off," she said, shutting the file cabinet, "and please put that down. It's the most current form of the serum, please don't time you touched something it broke." Howard set it down carefully, and Mary Rose gave an inward sigh of relief. She remembered the time Howard had dropped an entire microscope and broke it. It was part tragic, it was Mary Ross's personal property that she had brought to work on, and part hysterical, the fact that he had dropped a microscope managed to crack up Mary Rose and Dr. Erskine.

She picked up her jacket and asked, "Stark, why are you even here? Don't you have the World's Fair tonight?"

"Yes, I do," he answered, picking up a piece of paper and a pen, "but someone has to do your job."

"I do my job!" she said, crossing her arms.

He looked up with a smile and said, "Don't you know a joke when you hear it?"

She rolled her eyes and said, "You better not be late to your own exhibit!" She walked through the door, shutting it with a slam.

"Way to hold a grudge Rosie!"


	2. No, I Will Never Be

**PJC here! So, to everyone who has followed and favorites, thank you! I just wanna say that the title of the chapters may seem a little starnge right now, but once I finish the story the order they're in will start to make sense.**

 **Oh, and the name Turning Tables was taken from the Adele song, and that song is very important to the story. It's modern, so they characters won't be quoting it and listening to it, but it's a song I think is really good ok! Especially the Glee version, which is sung by Gwenth Paltrow as Miss Holly Holiday.**

 **Enjoy! More Bucky and Steve! I'm so excited!**

* * *

Mary Rose Barnes made her way the cinema, her trench coat over her. Mary Rose always loved the cinema, it truely was an amazing place for her. It was a place where the whole outside world couldn't scream at her to stop, for a short while, she could forgot everything in her life, and watch something. Her favorite shows by far where the cartoons and animated movies, she would drag Bucky and Steve out here at least once a month to watch them, by more often then not she didn't have to beg them. They enjoyed them too.

But she wasn't going for the cartoons now, she was told by Bucky before she left for school and work this morning-she was currently going to school and working two jobs (she had opted to continue working at the diner to help support her and Bucky)-to meet him and Steve at the movie theater before he took her to the World's Fair tonight.

She stopped outside the theater and looked around, but saw no sign of her tall brother and his small friend. She knew what that meant.

Mary Rose gave a small sigh, before turning a corner into an alleyway. The alleyway was dirty and messy, trash cans thrown over and rats ran across the damp concrete. But what horrified the young girl was the scene at the end of the street. She couldn't tell who the man at the end of the alleyway, but she had a pretty good idea.

"Hey!" she called grabbing the attention of the thug. "Why don't you pick on some one your own size?"

The attacker turned to the woman and scoffed, "Stay out of this, sweetheart."

She walked toward the man and said, "First of all, I have a name, and it's not 'sweetheart' last time I checked. And second of all, don't you have better things to do besides beating up people. Like, I don't know, _not beating up people."_

"I'm warning you-" the man said, throwing Steve, who he had by the front of the shirt, down onto the ground with a thud. The blonde gave a small grunt of pain and reached for his side, and Mary Rose snuck a quick glance to make sure he was ok.

"You'll what? Hit me? Go ahead!" she said, standing still and opening her arms as if to invite him to do it. Unluckily for her, he took the invitation and slapped her across the check. The impact forced her to fall to the ground. She stuck out her hands to break her fall, and it worked for the most part, but pain still hit her hard.

"Hey!" a voice called, pulling the attacker back by his elbow. This voice was Bucky, who wore a Milltary uniform, and he said, "Go somewhere else."

"She asked for it," the attacker growled, pointing at Mary Rose.

"Get out of here!" Bucky ordered, and he left grumbling on about something.

Bucky sighed. How many timess had he been through this with these two. He'll give them credit- they aren't exactly cowards, they never did run, and Mary Rose's interference normally stoped the attacks on Steve- but sometimes he just wished he could have a normal day without having to rescue his sister and best friend from some attack in an alleyway. Guess that was to much to ask.

He helped Mary Rose up, and Steve came over to them. "Sometimes, I think you two like getting beat up," Bucky remarked, taking in the two.

Mary Rose brushed dust off of her coat, and said, "It's my favorite pastime, Buck."

Bucky chuckled quietly, and said, "I'm gonna miss you guys."

Steve and Mary Ross's faces fell, and Steve said, "You finally got your orders, didn't you?"

Bucky sighed. He had been dreading telling the duo before him that he was leaving tomorrow. They would look out for each other, sure, but who would save their sorry butts in alleyways now? He pulled the slip of paper out of his pocket, giving it to Steve.

"Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes, shipping out first thing tomorrow," Bucky said as Steve looked over the papers.

Mary Rose looked up at her brother, and said, "Your really leaving, aren't you?"

Mary Rose was sad to see her brother go, with both of their parents dead, Bucky and Mary Rose were the only family they had. She would be all alone, Sure she had friends, like Steve, Howard, and Dr. Erskine, but Bucky was more then her brother. He was her rock. But it appeared this is was Bucky wanted to do. She wasn't going to stop him.

"Hey, I got one more day here in New York," Bucky said lacing his arms through Mary Rose's and putting an arm around Steve's shoulder, " and we got somewhere to be."

"Where?" Steve asked.

"The future!" Bucky mysteriously answered as he lead them out of the alley.

* * *

The Worlds Fair was very large,-and very crowded. Hundreds of people were gathered, looking at the spectacles and inventions that were set up. Mary Rose walked around the Fair, separate from Bucky and Steve because Bucky had managed to set up dates for the two of them, and Mary Rose had excused herself. It was strange to see Bucky on a date, and the thought of Steve on a date and her watching put a strange feeling in her she couldn't explain.

Once it came time for the Stark presentation, she met up with her brother again, and when she Steve with the girl Bucky set him up with-and the complete lack of interest she was exhibiting in Steve-the feeling returned, but she pushed it down inside. "Get hold of Yourself," Mary Rose thought to herself.

She stood in front her brother and Steve as the lights on the stage went on, and several chorus girls danced in front a red car as an voice called out, "Ladies and gentlemen, Howard Stark!"

Roxy watched the performance, expecting nothing less the grandeur performance he put on, and was not at all surprised when he kissed one of the girls on stage. She laughed under her breath, "Real classy, Stark..."

Steve and Bucky looked at her, surprised she knew the inventor. When Mary Rose had taken the job, Dr. Erskine had told her that this project was completely classified, she wasn't allowed to tell her friends and family about what she was working on, or who was working with her. She just told them that she was doing an intership for college credit-which wasn't technically a lie, instead of money, was giving her college credit. So they didn't know that she was actually very close to the man on stage.

"What if I told you," Howard boasted on stage as the girls took wheels off the red car on stage, "that in a few years that your automobile didn't even have to touch the ground?" Howard pressed a few buttons on the stage, as the red vehicles flouted off the ground.

Gasps and applause went through the crowd, Mary Rose was just as surprised as her friends. She was shocked that Howard had finally managed to pull it off-he had not been subtle at all that he was attempting to do this-but just as soon as it was flying, it fell back to the stage in a clattter.

Howard laughed awkwardly, and said, "I did say a few years didn't I?"

The crowd laughed at his terrible joke, and Mary Rose shook her head at the terrible of the joke.

After the presentation, the crowd started to disperse and Steve and Bucky begain to walk away with their dates, Mary Rose waved to them as she said, "I'll catch up with you guys in a bit."

"Don't want to spend time with your brother on his last night in town?" Bucky asked, pretending to be offended, "I am offended!"

Mary Rose shrugged, "Don't want to be the third wheel. Or more accurately the fifth wheel." She pointed her head over to the two girls that wandered off slightly farther way.

"Sure you'll be ok?" Steve asked, looking over at her.

"I'll be fine. Besides if I'm old enough to get into medical school, I'm old enough to walk around on my own," she said, turning around. It was true, she was techinacly in Med School now. Bucky and Steve started talking as she left, but she swore she heard Steve say her name once, she just couldn't hear anything else.

She made her way to the stage, and saw Howard coming from the side of it.

"Hey Stark!" she called, walking over to her friend.

"Rosie!" Howard said, pulling her in for a hug."Enjoy the show?"

"Well, it didn't fall flat," she said, "until you know, it did."

Howard let out at a loud laugh, scaring several passersby, including a small group of children that looked over at the two of them.

"Great job, you scared the children!"

"Hilarious Rosie," Howard said, "how are you enjoying the rest of the Fair?"

"Good," she said, nodding her head, "It's my brothers-I told you about him, his name's Bucky- last night in town, so I'm here with him and put friend Steve-I've told you about him too?"

Howard nodded and said, "Yes, you've told me about your many exploits with Bucky and Steve. Where are they?"

Mary Rose pointed behind her and said, "There off with their dates." The weird feeling about having Steve on a date returned, but she just couldn't quite place what it was. It wasn't jealousy, she didn't see Steve in that light, but something just felt wrong about it.

Howard cocked an eyebrow, but let the obvious tone in her voice slide. "I'd like to meet them, but I can't without the whole exposing the project trying to explain how we know each other."

"Great seeing ya' Stark," Mary Rose said as a goodbye, "Oh and make sure your honest by that girl you kissed earlier!"

"You mean Maria? I can't place it-but there's something different, almost magical about her," Howard said, knitting his eyebrows.

"Miss Mary Rose! !" they heard a familiar German accent call out to them. They both turned to see the approaching , who was rushing over to the two friends.

"Doc? What's wrong?" Howard asked.

"Is something going on?" Mary Rose asked, sharing a glance with Howrad.

"No, no, nothing is wrong," he said, brushing the two away. "But something has happened. I think I found our Super Soldier!"

"Really, who?" Mary Rose asked, getting excited. Had Dr. Erskine really found who he'd been searching for?"

"I can't tell you yet, I'm still not 100% sure they'll let him be the subject. But I have a good feeling about this one."

* * *

 **Review Replys:**

 **Reign:** Glad you like it! But not sure it's healthy to lust after a story...


	3. Knocked Down

**PJC here! Last chapter I wrote the name Roxy instead of Mary Rose, because I was used to writing Roxy affiliated with the name Stark, and it just came out. I tried fixing it after I caught it, but it didn't work, so my apologies. Thanks for the follows and favorites!**

 **I'm toying with the idea of including a little bit of Howard and Maria's relationship, mostly because in this AU, Maria (or what she did, at least) plays a much bigger role in Avengers and the Winter Soldior and plus their relationship is one of the greatest mysteries of the MCU! I wanna know more about them. Marvel! I need to know!**

 **Disclaimer: (basically all my OC's blathering on)**

 **Mary Rose: Princess Jaquline Chess does not own Captain Amercia: The First Avenger-**

 **Roxy: How come she gets an update?**

 **Bella: Yeah! What about us?**

 **PJC: Because I don't have inspiration for you two right now! Now, Mary please continue!**

 **Mary Rose: -or the characters and plots in said movie. Nor does Princess Jaquline Chess, known as PJC, own the comic/graphic novel versions of the characters. PJC only has possession of Mary Rose Barnes, and no profit will be gained by PJC in the making of this story. This is not monetized, and any related properties to Captain Amercia: The First Avenger also do not fall under PJC's ownership.**

 **Enjoy Part 3!**

* * *

Mary Rose walked through Queens, looking down at her white shoes. She was silent, normally she meet Howard a few blocks over and they walked together here, usually Howard having a rapid-fire conversation with Mary Rose. But today Howard wasn't with her, he was at a different location building the machine that would inject whoever got selected for the Super Soldior Serum.

She knew that this was Howard's job-he had to do it- but she still felt alone. Bucky had left out for Europe a few days ago, and Steve got enlisted and sent off to boot camp just yesterday. Bucky and Steve were her rocks, they were all she could count on. Sure she had Howard and Dr. Erskine, but Bucky was her best friend in the whole world and Steve was...she didn't know what Steve was to her at the moment.

When Steve told her that he had finally enlisted, Mary Rose was devastated. Not like in the way she was when Bucky finally enlisted, but something different. She didn't want him to go.

Because he was to off to war. War wasn't like in stories and the posters. It was hard, people died and people went through things that they shouldn't have to suffer through. She may have never been in combat, the closest she could come to was if she became an Army nurse, but she was creating a Super Soldier Serum.

That meant regular soldiers are being run through like hotcakes.

With a sigh, Mary Rose opened the door to the building she was looking for. It looked like every other building on the street, red bricks, one of the second story window had a rusted iron fire escape, both windows had white curtains concealing the inside contents.

But the inside was not like every building on the street.

Mary Rose stepped inside to the lab, and was taken back by the two men talking to Dr. Erskine. Why were the two here? She took off her red coat, which was the same color as her bow, placing it on the coat rack as the gentlemen began to talk. She looked at them, bewildered and confused.

"Dr. Erskine?" she asked, walking over to them. One of the men was older looking, wearing a U.S. Colonel Uniform, his hat in hand revealing balding blonde hair. The other man appeared to be in his mid-forties, wearing a suit with a red tie.

Dr. Erskine smiled at the young girl, and ushered her closer. "Ah, Miss Mary Rose! This Colonel Chester Phillips," Mary Ross's extended her hand to shake his, and he accepted it with a curt nod and a 'pleasure to meet you', "and Senator Brandt, one of our beneficiaries on the project." Upon shaking his hand, Mary Rose noticed his smile was slightly beyond the boundaries of a friendly first meeting smile.

With a small smile back, Mary Rose released her grip and took one step back. "Gentlemen, this is Miss Mary Rose Barnes, one of the lead scientists on the project," Dr. Erskine said as way of introduction for her.

"Well, more like intern," Mary Rose clarified as she flicked her brown hair out of her eyes, "I'm not an official scientist. I'm currently enrolled in the Spencer Reid School of Medicine."

The Senator gave her a quizzical look. Most people reacted like this, they expected a young women like her to be working in the factories to help the war effort, not be enrolled in a Medical school. But, much like Steve and Bucky, she was not one to collect scrap metal. She was doing something a lot more for the war effort then everyone thought. "Your in Medical School?"

Mary Rose cocked an eyebrow, crossed her arms, and with a defiant look, asked, "Is this a problem?"

Brandt shook his head quickly, and Colonel Phillips looked at the struggling senator, seeming to enjoy this. "No-no! Of course not! I just thought, a girl like yourself-that, um, someone like you-"

"Like me?" she asked, deciding she didn't like Brandt, but was going to have to put with him for some time. The things she did for Dr. Erskine and science.

"Oh, well, um- how long until your ready?" Brandt asked, trying to change the subject quickly.

Mary Rose rolled her eyes, and walked over to one of the many file cabinets. "We have been working for a couple years now, but I think the Serum is ready for final testing. Dr. Erskine says he found a applicant, but several final tests need to be run," Mary Rose said, digging through the cabinet, until she finally pulled out the correct folder. The cabinet really was a mess, most people expected her to be completely obsessed with organization, but in truth, she was kind of a mess. Sure she put things in the right places, but those places were smaller, contained messes.

"Miss Barnes," the Colonel said, interrupting the girls small speech, "While we appreciate your enthusiasm, we don't have time final tests. The Doctor has already pre-selected several candidates, but appears to be favoring one, " he shot a glance at Erskine, " and the Serum needs to be ready in two weeks."

"Two weeks?" Mary Rose asked in exasperation. "It took years to develop the Serum. We can't prefect the Serum in a couple weeks!"

"Well, looks like you'll have too, or else the Goverment will be pulling out it's support," Brandt explained, crossing his arms impatiently.

Mary Rose blinked. Did he just say that? "Your threatening to close down the project unless we get this done? Senator, with all due respect-"

"Come on Colonel Phillips, it's time we left," Brandt said, turning marching toward the door. Mary Rose shot him a death glare, anger radiating over in waves.

"I'm so sorry, to put you guys on this timeline," Colonel Phillips said, "but I have confidence you and your team can pull it off." He turned and left following the Senator.

After they left, Mary Rose nearly screamed, "How can we finish it in two weeks?"

Dr. Erskine turned to her with a sad smile, and simply said, "Not we. You."

Mary Rose couldn't believe him. He was leaving the project. Now? This close to it being done? Anger boiled and bubbled in her. "Your leaving the project?"

He looked taken back, and he hurrdly said, "What? No! Heavens no! I'm overseeing the applicants training, so you'll be here, finishing the Serum."

Mary Rose sighed and said, "Me? Finish the Serum? I can't do that!"

"Yes, you can. You will," Dr. Erskine said, placing a hand on he shoulder. She looked up at him, since he was taller then her. "I have complete and total faith that you can do this. That's why I choose you. And also, if you know only the last part of the process, then if they target you, they won't know everything."

Of course. Mary Rose had known since Day One that enemies of the U.S. and Allies would try and target the team working on the project to know the truth of how to create it. It made since that she would be given a task in the process only she knew.

"You better pick a good injectee, " she instructed. "This is your life's work, after all."

* * *

 _2 Weeks Later_

Mary Rose walked through the crowded bunker under the antique shop, making sure everything was in order. Her hair was a rat's nest, a pink bow hanging on haphazardly, being stuck in her hair days ago. She wore a pink shirt with a blue shirt a lab coat thrown over it to keep clean- and conceal the coffee stains they had acquired over the past two days. She hand slept or changed in the time, being far to busy.

" _Your in the home stretch!"_ she mentally reminded her self. For nearly three years she had been working up to this day. She had imagined many times what it would be like- but the difference was in her fantasy she knew who was being injected.

Right now, she had no clue. Apparently it was for her and the team's protection, but she didn't care anymore. This was her baby, she wanted to know who and why they were being given this serum. She tried to weasel it out of Dr. Erskine, but he held firm. Even after she had done his job for two weeks.

Sometimes she really didn't like her boss.

But all that was forgotten when she looked up and saw who was coming down the stairs. Agent Peggy Carter- she had come by to visit a few times in the past two weeks to check in the progress with Dr. Erskine- and someone she never thought she'd see here.

It was Steve Rogers. In a Milltary Uniform and everything.

"Steve?" she called out. He looked up, his jaw dropping.

* * *

 **Cliffy!**

 **Review replies:**

 **Readwritedit:** I'm glad you like it! I really wanted to make Mary Rose strong, but I had to remember this was the 1940's and her definition of being a strong woman may actually be different from mine. I wasn't really sure if she was going to be believable for that era, since this is a story about her breaking the molds of that era. Please tell me if she starts to deviate from being believable and what I can do to fix it!


	4. No, I Can't

**PJC here! Last chapter was a cliffy and the shortest one so far. They've actually been getting shorter and I apologize!**

 **I know a skipped a certain portion of this chapter that should majorly important, but I feel as though I wouldn't serve it just so I'm going to do the after part and then sort of explain. Sorry!**

 **Oh! One more thing: Because this is techenclu an AU, the dialogue will be switched up. You'll her the same effect, but it's not gonna be word for word, mostly because I can't find a (legal) copy of the script to go off of and I don't have an idetic memory.**

 **Read newiew!**

* * *

Mary Rose blinked as Steve came closer, shock written on both of their faces. He was the soldier Dr. Erskine had selected? The one he told her about at the World Fair? She, Bucky, and Steve had walked home together that night, and they were both blissfully unaware that they both were involved in the same thing.

"Mary? What are you doing here?" Steve asked as he walked down the stairs, toward her.

"I'm a scientist on the project," she said with a blink. "Your the one who Dr. Erskine has been talking about?"

Why would Steve sign up for something like this? If the wind blew hard enough it could break him in half-and he had decided to do something that _could_ break him. Mary Rose didn't believe it, Bucky had made her promise to look out for their rather impulsive friend. And yet she let him to do this without her knowing.

Some friend she was.

"Miss Mary Rose!" Dr. Erskine said, coming up to the two of them. "I see you've meet Steven." He smiled broadly, unaware of the two's shock that were just now recovering from.

"Oh, um, yeah," she said, wiping her hand on her skirt. She crossed her arms, and gave Steve a stern look that said, _we'll talk about this later._

Agent Carter approached and said with a red lipped smile, "Miss Barnes, wonderful to see you again."

Mary Rose shook her hand and said, "Like wise Agent Carter. I've got some final prepartions I have to make, so I'll have to catch up with you later."

She really didn't have anything to do, but Mary just couldn't be near Steve right now. Now that the intial shock had worn off, an anger at him was bubbling in her. She knew it was misguided, Steve just wanted to fight and this was his one chance to get to. But it didn't mean that she still wasn't angry at her friend for signing up for this.

"Bucky is gonna kill him," she whispered to herself as she walked away. "But he'll have to just have to get in line."

She walked over to the nurse's inserting the viles of blue liquid into the correct slots and pretended to look like she was interested as she took over from them. Absentmindly she did the task, and without thinking even corrected a few errors that the nurse's had done. She was too busy thinking about all the things that could go wrong with the experiment.

What if her calculations were off and it ended up hurting Steve?

What if the needles went to deep and went in his bone?

What if Steve's body rejected the serum?

So lost in thought, it took a nudge on the shoulder from Howard to alert her that the injection was about to start.

"Hey, Rosie!" Howard said she she snaped up, returning her attention to her surrondings. "Come on it's time to start."

"Oh, um, yeah," she said, looking up to see Steve get ready.

Her anger had lessened by now, so when she saw her friend approaching, she found herself more scared for him then anything. She walked however to him, and with a small smile said, "Good luck."

Steve gave a now and said, "Thanks." There was a bit of nervousness in his tone and Mary became acutely aware that had made Steve take off his shirt. But, in act of impulse, hugged her friend and whispered, "Were still not done talking about this."

Steve returned her hug, after an instil moment of shock, and laughed. "I know."

Albeit reluctantly, Mary let go of Steve, knowing that when she let go that the small Steve, that she was barely taller then, that she had known for years was going to go through an untested, unknown procdure.

Playfully hitting his shoulder, Mary Rose teased, "Knock'em dead."

"I will," he answered, a smile on his lips.

For a split second they stood there, but then Dr. Erksine said, "Miss Mary Rose! Howard needs your help!"

"Oh, of corsue," she said awkardly, breaking the silence that encompassed her and Steve. She walked away as Dr. Erksine lead Steve to the small table that lifted up in to a huge pod during the procudre, and glanced once over her shoulder toward him.

"So," Howard said with a clap of his hands, " that was the one and only Steve?"

"Yeah," she said absentmidnly, looking down at the lever and nobs in front of her. "Which one of theese am I in control of?

"None," he answered. "I just told Dr. Erskine I needed your help so you and Steve would separate and we could get this show on the road."

Mary Rose glared at her friend and partner, something she found she did quite often, as she heard Dr. Erskine grab the microphone and begin. She inhaled a breath, nervous.

Here we go.

* * *

It worked. The serum actually worked. Mary Rose stood frozen as she watched her once minsucal friend step out of the large beige pod that the procdure had taken place in, but he was no longer a small. He was huge.

Sweat glistened off of him, and he breathed heavily, obviously short of breath. Steve's blonde hair, however, managed to be stay pretty much the same, amzingly to the young woman. Steve now had muscles running along his body, unlike before when he had arms that could be mistaken for noodles.

Mary breathed out, "It worked." She hurried over to her friend, fighting the crowd that had collected around the clearly dazed man.

"How do you feel?" she asked Steve once she reached him, hoping her voice wasn't lost amongst the large din of voices from the crowd.

"Taller," he said off-handily, clearly still bewildred and in a daze about what had happened mere moments ago. But who wouldn't be?

Agent Carter came over, and offered Steve a plain white shirt, which he silently accepted. He pulled over his head and then a large boom responded through out the room. Firery debris and pieces of glass rained down from what used to be the observation platform. Mary Rose ducked down covering her head, the sound still ringing in her ears.

She stood up slightly, then heard the loud sound of gunfire. The sound mingled with the ringing in her ears, creating a loud, nearly unbearable sound in her ears. She saw the old Dr. Erskine fall, holes in his chest from where the bullets had entered his skin. She heard two more go off, and felt her slide down to the ground. She looked over and saw blood pouring out of her shoulder and blow her knee.

Her medical training kicking in, she tried her best to apply pressure to the wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding. "Mary!" she heard someone call, and looked up to see Steve right next to her, insure of how to help her.

"I'm fine," she said to him. " Get to Doctor Erskine!"

With a relunctant nod, Steve hurried over to the dying docter, as Mary Rose attempted to stop her bleeding.

* * *

"You're extremely lucky, you know that right?" she heard Howard say as she passed him. He was working on the submarnine that the gunman, a Hydra agent sent to destroy any way to recreate the Super Soldier Serum, had used in an attempt to get away.

The shots he fired were meant to take out her, Howard, and Dr. Erskine. Her and Dr. Erskine both had worked on the actual serum and Howard had built the machine to inject the Serum. All together, they posed a serious threat to not only the Axis powers, but Hydra and Johann Scmidt.

"Says the guy that didn't get hit," Mary Rose said as she walked by, her arm in a sling and her leg slightly limping.

It had been less then a few hours since Mary had watched Dr. Erskine, her teacher - basically the man who had become her father - die in front of her. But still, she has yet to cry, yet to scream out, her to do anything. She knew that she should feel something, but all she could feel was a sense of full nothingness.

"Funny Rosie!" Howard called out to her as Mary walked away from him toward the small area where Steve say on a tall bench, rolling down his sleeve as a few nurses walked away from him with vials of his blood.

"Sure, that's gonna be enough?" he asked as he started to stand up.

"Your blood is the only way we can ever dream about recreating the Serum Dr. Erskine started," Mary answered as she walked in and picked up on of the vials of blood to look at it. She wasn't really looking at anything in the blood, she was just attempting to stay out of Steve's gaze, knowing that it would be filled with a million questions about her injury.

"But didn't you work on the project?" he asked, walking over to his friend as she replaced the vile, but still refused to look him in the eyes.

"At the end.I don't know where he started. You can't run before you rise," she said, crossing her arms.

Steve gave a nod and a grim expression. Dr. Erskine's death had rocketed through the people close to him quickly. Steve had only known the Doctor for a few short weeks...he could only imagine how Mary, who has proably worked with him for years, must be feeling.

And the truth was...she was still completely, utterly in denial about his death.

"Anyway," she said after a moment, finally looking up at her friend. "How does it feel finally being taller then me?"

Steve gave a small chuckle and teased, "Exhilarting. Now I can finally stop being the smallest in the group."

For years, Mary and Steve had a bit of a small rivlarly about who was techecaily taller, her or Steve. Between her, Bucky, and Steve, Bucky had always been the tallest, but for years it had been a neck and neck race between the her and Steve over who was the smallest. When the were children that would get a measuring stick and actauly measure each other once a month, but over time it had become more of a running home between the two of them.

They started to walk out of the small aclove, when the heard Colonel Phillips voice come near them.

This couldn't be good.

* * *

 **I stopped at another important spot! I'm really sorry! But I needed to get something up so you guys would I'm not abdoaning it! Sorry for any grammatical errors (I wrote this on my phone!)**

Reveiw Replies:

 **QuikChik: As you can see, I am contiuning!**

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 **But I'm glad you think the story has potential!**

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	5. Keep Up

**PJC here! Finally an update! This chapter is a bit short, but updates will be even farther apart because I only get so much time on the computer a week.**

 **But news: this and all my other MCU stories now have a Twitter. The link is on my profile, and it has information, spoilers, plus maybe some funny Marvel stuff. I just got it up, so it doesn't right now, but it will later on. Go check it out!**

* * *

"What'cha got Stark?" Phillips said, Mary Rose eyeing the man as he came closer to her. The colonel stopped in front of where Stark was working on the submarine, Steve and Mary watching the exchange between the two.

"Speaking modestly, I'm the best mechanical engineer in the country and second smartest person in the room, and I have no idea how this thing works," Howard said, wiping his forehead with a cloth. Mary knew then that Howard really had no idea what this thing was; he hated to admit he didn't understand something.

Phillips turned over to Mary and asked, "Dr. Barnes? Got any ideas on what it is?"

She shook her head. "I haven't even looked at it, sir," she said, crossing her arms and walking over to him. "Besides, I have no training in mechanic engineering. I would be just as lost as you. And I'm not a doctor yet." She didn't graduate from medical school officially for another week or so though she had completed all credits ( and actually quite early due to the college credit she earned through Dr. Erskine) , but some people had already taken to calling her Dr. Barnes. She didn't mind that they thought she was qualified to be a doctor, it was just that she hadn't earned the title completely yet.

"Just what I thought," Phillips grumbled. "It's time to take the fight to Hydra." Mary rolled her eyes, as Steve gave a confused look on what HYDRA was. Of course he wouldn't have been told what HYDRA was until after the injection, but it surprised Mary that they hadn't even told him the name or anything. "Hydra?" he asked, looking over at Mary.

But Mary didn't get to answer as Agent Carter walked over, and answered, "It's the deep Nazi science division, lead by Johan Schmidt." She gave Mary a nod as way of greeting, which Mary returned. They hadn't really spoken much, but there was an air around Agent Carter that demanded respect, which Mary felt obliged to give. Mary knew firsthand that it was hard to fight your way here as a female, and didn't doubt at all that Agent Carter had a rough time getting here.

"Stark, Dr, Barnes, Agent Carter pack your bags, we're heading out this afternoon," he said walking past Mary, Steve, and Agent Carter-who Mary had learned earlier that her first name was Peggy. Steve said, "With all due respect, if you're going after Schmidt and Hydra, I want in."

Phillips rounded on him, and said, "You're a lab rat, Rogers. You weren't supposed to fight, you'll be in testing." Mary blinked once. This was news to her, when had this been decided? During the two weeks she worked by herself? Or was this just Phillips trying to get Steve out of the way? She felt a sense of anger rising in her; this was all Steve ever wanted. To be a soldier. And now that he was able to be one, they were taking it away from him?

"Colonel Phillips," Mary interrupted, pushing a lock of brown curls behind her ear, "I was under the impression that the testing would be for only for a weeks, that he would eventually fight in the war." He gave her a stern look, which seemed to question whether she wanted to retract her statement , and Mary being as stubborn as always didn't.

"Either way," Phillips said after a moment, returning his attention to Steve, "I'm not having a lab rat on the warfront. Doesn't matter what impression you were under Dr. Barnes."

Mary shook her head, and said, "I can't go anyway, I'm still not done with school."

"You have no classes the rest of your remaining week. All that's left is the official end of classes, either way you'll still be certified. You have finished your testing," was all Phillips said as he walked away from Mary Rose. Mary really didn't like Colonel Phillips; it wasn't that he was specifically mean to her, but that he could just be a hard personality to deal with sometimes.

Mary turned to face Steve and said, "Sorry Steve, I really thought you were supposed to go over there."

"Me too," he said wearily, looking into her eyes. "I'll miss you."

"Miss you too," she said, punching his shoulder, which normally would have been harmless but now felt much harder. "Punk," she said, borrowing Bucky's nickname for him.

Pulling her into a hug, he said, "Later Mary."

He let her go, and she felt a small amount of butterflies in her stomach. It was supposed to be a sad moment, and she did feel sad, but underneath she felt a kind of warmth when Steve was looking at her right now.

"Bucky! So help me God, if you steal all my pens one more time!" Mary called after her twin brother, who was hurrying away from the medical tent with a cackle. By sure luck, Mary had been assigned to the 107th as a nurse-despite the fact that she was a doctor now-which happened to be the same infantry that had Bucky as a Sergeant. The other patrons of the base had at first been annoyed at their antics, but had grown amused by them, they had became a laugh amongst the dreary life of war.

Right now the medical tent was nearly empty, containing only a soldier with a broken leg and arm sleeping in the corner, and Mary's fellow nurse Elsa. Elsa rolled her brown eyes at Mary and said in her southern accent, "Y'all would think you two hate each other."

Mary turned to her friend and said, "What gave you the impression I didn't?"

Elsa laughed. She and Mary had become incredibly close, but that's what happens when you spend 3 months constantly together in a smell tent caring for the wouneded. You either to grow to hate or love each other, and they early on decided to become friends rather then enemies since they would have to work closely together.

Elsa had elegant dark skin and short brown hair, the way it was styled reminding her off the hairstyles she remembered seeing in her childhood on women during the 1920's. She guessed that perhaps that the Southern states may have had a little differing in fashion then New York, but from what Elsa had told her it seemed the hair was more of just an Elsa thing.

Elsa picked up a blanket from a cot and walked over to her, and said, "I don't know the fact that y'all are brother and sister."

"And you love all your siblings?" Mary asked, walking over to check on the sleeping soldier.

Elsa's face stiffened, and Mary felt as though she had said something that perhaps she shouldn't. Elsa never talked about her family, once she had shared a fond memory of her father but she hadn't talked much about anyone else. But Elsa's face softened after a moment and she smiled and said, "No, I guess not."

* * *

 **We meet Elsa! Yay! Elsa will be sticking around, I didn't just include her for no reason. But she will be important!**

 **Bye my little royals!**

 **Hers the Twitter link:** /PJChess3219


	6. With Your Turning

**PJC here! Hello their! The Twitter thing has gone to just a personal feed now for everything I do, not just my MCU stories, so if you're not interested in that then you can unfollow me if you did follow me. (But feel free to continue following me if you have.)**

Elsa walked away from Mary after her statement, leaving the tent as the solider let out a small wince as he awoke. Mary hurried over to him, and heard Elsa call out, "I'll tell Bucky to return your pens!"

With a roll of her eyes, Mary knew that any awkwardness from the previous conversation was gone. Mary leaned over the man, who was obviously in pain, a second wince escaping his teeth. Mary gave a small smile and said, "Just like Elsa, disappear when there is real work to be done."

Mary looked at the man, and in a comforting yet firm voice, "I'm Dr. Barnes, can you tell me what hurts?" The man, with a painful grimace, pointed at his side, confusing the young doctor. The nurse that had treated the man had said he only had a broken arm and leg. Why would his side be in pain?

Mary gave a nod, quickly transitioning from comforting nurse to actually treating a patient. "Ok, I'm going to have peel back your shirt to look at it. Is that ok?"

He gave a nod, and winced again. She opened his shirt, and pulled it back to look at the spot where he was pointing. The spot was black and blue, covered in intense bruises. There was no sign of bone, and there was no a cut so there wasn't any blood. But the bruise was in a round formation, and appeared to be caused by something hitting his side. "Can you tell me what hit you?" she asked, looking up at the man's face again.

"I was running, and I felt something hard hit my side, it was metal, I think," he answered quietly, almost ashamed that he got hit. Mary gave an affirmative nod, and let go of the man's shirt. It was probably just a bruise from his gun hitting his side during a retreat, when he was too busy to worry about the proper way to hold it.

She got up, and said, "Good news is you're not going to die today. Someday, but not today." She walked over to one of the beds and brought over a small blanket. "That bruise is a dozy, but should heal up in a day or two. Your leg and arm, though, they'll keep you here for a week."

The man took the blanket, and mumbled, "Thank you." Mary turned on her heel and walked out of the tent, as another young nurse walked in to the tent. Sometimes Mary wondered just what these people were doing here as nurses. Some of them didn't know what they were doing half the time, it burned her to the core.

She walked off, pulling a small faded photo of Steve, before the serum, and looking at it. It was from a few years ago, just after Mary had taken the job with Dr. Erskine. His hair was slightly frazzled after getting in a fight on the way to come take the photo, and Mary could almost hear Bucky's irritated words at Steve about it now. "What am I doing?" she asked the photo out loud.

What was she doing? She loved helping the war effort, but everyday felt like an endless stream of new soldiers with wounds to clean and nurses constantly flirting with the soldiers. It grew tiring. And it only got worse in then that she had received no letters from Steve. It wouldn't have been so bad if she wasn't sending one every other day, then she wouldn't have expected anything back. She didn't want a long his letter professing innermost feelings for her- " _Where did that just came from?_ "she thought- but at least something telling her he was alright. She had heard rumors that a man that fit his depiction had taken up the job of the stage presence, Captain America, but it would be nice to know that he was him.

"Well, right now, you're talking to yourself," she heard someone say. She rolled her eyes, and turned to face her twin brother.

"I could punch and no one would care," she teased, crossing her arms. "Give me back the pens, Buck." Mary did lover her brother, but sometimes he could just be infuriating. Like right now, during one of the many times he had messed with her upon her arrival to the camp. We was known for his joking spirit, but more often than not, Mary was the victim of the many jokes. Even though she didn't enjoy being the victim of his practical jokes, she was glad to see that the war wasn't completely destroying his sense of humor.

Bucky rolled his eyes, and said, "I already gave them back to Elsa." He noticed the photo in her hand, and tilted his head questionably. "What'cha got their sis?" he asked, pointing to the small photo of Steve.

"Nothing," she said, pulling the photo to her chest. She didn't know why, but she felt like this picture was _hers_ and that Bucky seeing this photo felt weird and strange to her. Mary didn't know why, it wasn't like Steve and Bucky weren't best friends, Bucky had even been there when the photo had been taken.

"Yeah, right," he said, trying to get the letter out of her grasp.

"Bucky! I said it was nothing!" she said, turning away from her brother.

He grasped her shoulder and turned her around-she hated that he was so much stronger than her-and looked into her eyes with a smug smile. "I don't believe you," he said, plucking the photo out of her hand. Mary gave a defeated sigh and crossed her arms defiantly, she did not agree with this.

Bucky scanned the picture, and at first his expression was confused. And he was. Why would Mary be so protective of a picture of Steve? Sure, Mary and Steve were good friends and Bucky was confident enough in his own sexuality to say that Steve was a stand-up guy, but Mary had always shown him everything, they knew everything about each other. Why suddenly would she be so unwilling to show him the picture of Steve? Unless….

Bucky gave a smile and handed back the photo, which Mary snatched away and hurriedly put away in her pocket. She turned on her heel, clearly upset with Bucky. Oh well. But Bucky merely smiled, and walked the other way.

The picture confirmed everything that he had suspected for years; that Mary had fallen in love with Steve. She probably didn't know it herself, but Bucky saw the way she looked at him. As though the world would just stop spinning if Steve left her world, and Bucky now understood why Steve's lack of correspondence was hitting her hard. It was the end of the world for her, she didn't know what was happening to him.

Bucky had heard Mary mumble about Steve and some 'super solider', but Bucky had yet to figure out what she was talking about. He too was worried about his little friend, he hoped that something hadn't happened to him.

Bucky gave a sigh as he entered his tent. The stage character Captain America that was going around selling bonds for the war was set to be here in just a few weeks. Maybe that would lift his and Mary's spirits. Hopefully.


	7. Tables, Under Your

**PJC here! It's been like forever! Unlike the past few chapters, this is incredibly short and I apologize. Once again, no Steve. I'm sorry! But I want to establish Bucky and Mary's relationship. I'll update when I can.**

* * *

Mary Rose could take many things. Steve, Bucky, and even Howard could vouch for that fact. She could stand being shouted sexist comment at. She could stand large responsibility. Bu the man before her was really riding on her nerves, and she was about ready to snap.

The man was tall, dark haired, and was trying his hardest to flirt with Mary. He came by the nurse's tent at least once day in a thinly veiled attempt to flirt with her. She was flattered, but she didn't have interest in time he would come over, she somehow felt like she was betraying Steve. Mary didn't understand why, but the sooner the man stooped flirting with her, the sooner she could return to th state of mind where she wasn't questioning her feelings toward Steve.

But apparently the man couldn't take a hint.

So when Elsa warned her about his approach, needless to say, she was kinda mad that he was still trying to flirt with her.

"Vamp approaching," Elsa said, as Mary finished tending an injured soldier. Elsa had given the man the nickname of Vamp, Mary didn't know what she meant by that, but because she don't what the mans name was, she just called him that as well.

Mary sighed and got up, Elsa placing a hand over her shoulder as she walked by, telling her to get it over with,

Mary walked up to him, not even the fainest bit of amusement normal on her face within her features. In fact, she looked extremely different then she used too. The bows in her hair was gone, replaced instead by a hasty pony tale that looked incredibly unfashionable. Her eyes were much older, having seen the worst of injuries and long, agonizing deaths of injured soldiers. "Hey," the man said, his voice flirtatious as always.

"How do you do?" she asked briskly, not even friendship in her voice.

"Well, we were about to be sent out on attack, thought you might want to kiss me goodbye," he said, staring intently at her. But Mary didn't notice the look. The troops were being sent out? When? Why didn't Bucky tell her? He always told her when they were about to leave, so she could always know where he was...or at least what was going on with him.

"When?"she asked, surprised.

"This afternoon," he said, "I was hop-"

Vamp didn't get to finish the sentence, because Mary cut him off. She had to go talk to Bucky-know if he was one of the ones going out there. But in her heart she already knew the answer. She turned toward Elsa, and said, "Elsa, watch the tent. I gotta go talk to Buck."

She pushed past Vamp, not even noting the offended look in his eyes. How could Bucky not have told her? They told each other everything...OK, so Mary still hadn't told him about the Super Serum Project and her involvement, but this was different. What is he went and never came back? She couldn't live with herself then.

She pushed past soldiers and nurses, none of them giving her a second glance. It was by chance they had arrived on the same base, but everyone here knew that Mary and Bucky were incredibly close to each other. They had a bond deeper then anything they had ever seen, and that Mary and Bucky would often go out of there way to find each other.

She pulled up in front of Bucky's tent, and only hesitated slightly at opening the tent. What is he was planning on telling her? What if he had just forgotten? What if he just found out himself? Mary shook her head and entered the tent, as Bucky pulled on his boots.

"James Barnes. When where you planning on telling me you were leaving?" she asked, crossing her arms. Bucky leaned back his head and sighed. "Shit," he murmured, standing up to face her. "After I left."

Mary gave him a steely glare, looking him dead in the eyes. "Bucky!"

Bucky held up his hands in defeat, and said, "This is why I was going to wait to tell you. You always get worked up."

"Of course I get worked up!" Mary said. "Your my brother. And I don't want to lose you!"

Bucky garbed a jacket and placed a hand on his sister's shoulder, and with a comforting smile said, "Your not going to lose me."

Mary griped his hand and said, "You don't know that-"

Bucky cut her off and said, "Don't talk like that Mary. I promise your not going to lose me. I won't let sons of bitches get me." Bucky knew how much Mary was scared for him, something in her eyes told him that she knew something he didn't. He didn't know what it it was, but he knew that it made Mary fear losing him. So looking at his twin, he knew that he had to convince to stop worrying about this,

"Come here," he said, wrapping her in an embrace, placing his elbow on top of her head. "I promise I'll come back."

Mary hugged him back, but something in her gut told her that something was different about this mission. That Bucky may not comeback. And she couldn't lose him, her parents were gone. Bucky was everything to her. Sure, Steve meant alot to her, but Bucky was her lifeline. They came into this world together, and she would make damn sure that Bucky didn't go out before her. "Love ya' Buck."

Bucky kissed the top of her head and said, "Love you too Mary."

* * *

Mary bolted up in her cot, sweat lining her face. Bucky had left out the day before, and she had been worried mess ever since. Misplacing things all the time, staring blankly into space. Elsa mostly let her be, knowing that Mary was always like this when Bucky was gone or Bucky brought up Steve.

Mary curled in on herself, tears escaping her eyes. Something had happened. Bucky was hurt, something bad was happening to him. And Mary just knew. She couldn't explain it, but she knew. She knew in her heart of hearts, that Bucky was in pain. Alive, yes, but in pain.

And all she could do was let out the sobs in her tent, with the other nurses pretending to sleep and ignoring her tears.

* * *

Bucky stared up at the ceiling, blinking in and out of conscious. How long had he been here? Hours? Days? Weeks? He couldn't tell. But every awakening brought him another round of pain.

He felt another needle enter his side, and a burning, stinging, sensation spreading through his body. He let out a hiss of pain, and the doctor next to him, poking in the needle,-Zola, he thinks-looked over and appeared completely unconcerned with his pain. Not that he should, he had been placing Bucky through tedious amounts of pain since being strapped to this table, not one asking him anything about his well-being.

 _Hydra..._

The sound of the door bursting open hit his ears, and he could move his head enough to see the an who entered. He was tall, dressed in a clean cut Nazi uniform, an almost sadistic smile on his lips. Was this the man in charge? What had he done to the other soldiers? Who was he?

But as another needle entered his body, all his answers faded away as he accepted the embrace of darkness for the time being.

But this would not last forever.


	8. Thumb, I Can't

**It's been awhile, like five months? Ugh, I'm really bad at this whole constant update thing. I put my Avengers story on hold so I could write this, and I still haven't updated.**

 **Please forgive me for updating so sparsely, I wanted to have this done by Civil War's release, but at the rate I'm moving, that obviously didn't happen. Oh, did anyone see Civil War? I had physical anxiety before I saw the movie, and let me tell you: IT WAS AMAZING! IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT, GO SEE IT.**

 **To my knowledge, we never find out much about Bucky's parents in the movies, and only a little in comics. (But if we were going by comics, where the heck is Rebecca when all this is going down in the MCU?) And for some reason, I had this idea that Bucky and Mary's parents in this AU were French immigrants that came over during World War One, and it just never really left. So, I thought that they would know French and English, and that sometimes they would fall back on the French language when talking. I've been studying French for about four years now, but I'm still really bad at it. If there is any problems with translations and you speak French, let me know in the reviews, OK?**

 **Also, hints at Elsa's identity!**

 **Reviews make me feel really happy, so please review.**

 **I also worked in some mythology from Agent Carter.**

 **But Steve is back, so yah!**

* * *

Steve Rogers had had enough. City after city of pretending to be some hero, when he really wasn't. He wasn't out there, risking his life fighting for something greater then himself. Yet here he was, being the face of a movement they never even let him join.

But on that day in the lab, right after Mary had left the room, he had basically been given two options

Colonel Phillips gave him the choice of lab rat, being tested on.

Senator Brandt gave him the choice of dancing monkey, going around selling war bonds.

He chose the latter, because at least this way he was allowed to do something, _anything,_ that would help the people who were fighting, like Bucky. It wasn't what he dreamed, or what he had intended when he volunteered for this, but it was better then what he would have gotten if he taken Colonel Phillip's option. But Dr. Erskine's formula was being wasted on nothing more then a dancing monkey, or at least that's how Steve felt about it.

So when Mary and Bucky's letters started to arrive, he couldn't read them. Because Bucky was really doing something to help, and here Steve was pretending to be a hero. And Mary...Mary had helped create the formula that made him this way, how would she feel if she knew what her and her mentor - someone she had seen die in front of her after years work and friendship - had worked so hard for was being wasted. He couldn't. He couldn't bear to read their letters, even though he wanted to know everything that had happened to them in the months since he last saw them, especially Mary for reasons that he didn't know.

And when he arrived in Europe, he found the soldiers felt the same way about how he felt. That he was not a hero - that he was doing something that undermined them. The only good apart about this, the letters couldn't follow him here, so that was one less thing he found himself restless over. At least most of the time.

* * *

Mary was a wreck. Albeit she wasn't prone to admit it, she was. Misplacing papers, taking 18-20 hours stretches of no sleep, and when her mind wasn't in the medical tent, it was some where far off from here. In the week since Bucky was reported MIA, Mary had refused to leave the camp despite Phillips saying it would be best if she was somewhere else.

But she didn't. She stayed, and continually asked and asked for a search party to be sent because Bucky was alive and so others must be alive too. When asked how by Phillips how she _knew_ that Bucky was alive, she merely turned to him and said, "I would have felt it, I would know."

No one believed her, except Peggy Carter who claimed she knew what it was like to lose a brother, and Elsa who had become her closest friend in the months since she arrived in the Army Base. Peggy had merely said that she just knew that Mary was telling the truth, because when her brother died, she had just known it.

Elsa seemed most sympathetic to her however, and kept trying to cheer her up. Especially on the day the famed stage presence "Captain America" was showing up in camp to try and get them to buy war bonds.

"Mary Rosalie Elizabeth Barnes," Elsa exclaimed, "You are going to see this show!"

Mary, who had been writing a letter of condolence for one of the soldiers who died in the medical tent, snapped up at Elsa's voice, having been in a daze. " What?" Mary asked, confused by what Elsa meant.

"The show? This afternoon? The one where Captain America is supposed to make an appearance?" Elsa said as Mary rolled her eyes and got up, leaving the medical tent.

"Mary..." Elsa said, trailing after her, "This isn't healthy. You know Bucky wouldn't want you to be moping around, he'd want you to be out and trying to live normally."

"How can I live normally if my twin brother is out there, most likely being tortured Elsa?!" Mary said, rounding on her friend with a stern look. Elsa just sighed, Mary often went into rages like this whenever someone told her to try her best to move on with her life until there was a plan. It was starting to grind on Elsa's nerves a little though.

"Because there is nothing you can do to stop it! So calm down already, there is no need to worry about it!" Elsa shouted. Once the words left her mouth, Elsa regretted them immediately. The effect they had on Mary was catastrophic, tears welling in her eyes and threatening to spill onto her cheeks.

"Mary, I-"Elsa started, but Mary turned and ran away from her friend, clearly upset. No one dared to stop her, and Elsa didn't follow. Nothing she said would ever make her feel better, at least not right now.

Elsa reached at her neck, pulling out a locket with an arrow on it. She rubbed it between her forefinger and thumb, and sighed."Sister, what have I done now?" she asked, looking down at the necklace with a sad expression.

* * *

 _Six year old Mary skipped down the Brooklyn street, her brown curly hair bouncing on her back as she pranced down the street. Bucky followed close behind her, not skipping but still smiling at his sister._

 _"Come on Buck," Mary called over her shoulder, "we're supposed to meet Steve in ten minutes!"_

 _"Mary!" Bucky said with a laugh. "Slow down! Your going to hurt yourself!"_

 _Mary merely laughed and continued to skip, looking over her small shoulder again, ready to say something back. But, not noticing her untied shoe, steeped on her shoelace and fell forward. She put out her hands to break the fall, her hands receiving the brunt of the trauma._

 _Her knees skinned the cement, as did her small elbows, and she gave a slight shriek as she fell face forward onto the ground. "Mary!" Bucky called, running up to her with a serious expression that looked like it did not belong on a six-year old boys._

 _Mary leaned up, her eyes welling up with salty tears. She was only six, after all. Bucky fell down to his knees next to her, picking up her elbow to examine it. "Are you OK?"_

 _With a shaky breath she nodded her head, blood sprouting from her skin on her knees, elbows, and hands. "Come on, we have to get you home," Bucky said, starting to lift up Mary from the ground. "Maman can help bandage you up."_

 _"But we have to meet St-"_

 _"Don't worry about that right now, Mary," Bucky said, taking her hand as they started to walk back. "I'll go find him after we get home and tell him why we didn't come."_

 _"OK," Mary said, sniffing her nose. "Merci, Bucky."_

 _"De rien," Bucky said, Mary leaning her head on his shoulder with a small smile._

* * *

"De rien," Bucky whispered in his half-dream, half-awake state. His arm and leg restraints kept him from moving, but he manged to move his head to the other side of the table he rested on. Bucky had been reliving memories for days now, some of them not as pleasant as the one he just had.

All he could do was hope Mary was doing the same, where ever she was, what he had done for her. Be there for him.

* * *

"Anyone else ready to help sock ol'Adolf on the jaw?" Steve said on the stage, his mask obscuring his features to the audience in front of him - for which Steve was grateful. He didn't want them to be able to recognize him, purely because they appeared to not be to pleased with Steve's presence as "Captain America" right now.

Silence spread throughout the crowd of soldiers, all clearly tired and angry at the war- or Steve. Elsa couldn't tell which. "Oh, I haven't seen a crowd this tense since brother tried to be the All-father's jester," Elsa whispered to herself as a man from the crowd yelled, "Nice boots, Tinker Bell."

The crowd erupted in laughter at the unknown soldier's comment, and Steve, or "Captain America", gave a dejected sigh. This was going to be a fun crowd. "Come on guys, we're all on the same team here," he said, but lacked the enthusiasm he had before.

"Bring back the girls!" someone else yelled, and the crowd then erupted into thunderous applause. Elsa felt bad for "Captain America", it was clear that the soldiers weren't even remotely interested in what he had to say.

"I'll see what I can do," Steve said, turning around and living the stage as the back-up dancers re-flooded the stage.

"It is quite a depressing show, isn't it?" a British voice said next to Elsa, and she turned to see Agent Peggy Carter standing next to her with her signature red-lipped smile.

"Agent Carter, I though y'all weren't do back until next week," Elsa said. Elsa and Peggy had meet once or twice before, but never had a real connection. But both held a friendship with Mary, so they managed to keep up at least a small form of companionship through mutual friendship.

"Officially I'm not," Peggy said, surveying the crowd. "But I came back to check up on Mary. I heard about Bucky."

* * *

 **I got some stuff to do, so I have to log off now. But I thought I might get something up.**

 **Translations**

 **Maman - Mother**

 **Merci - Thank You**

 **De rien - Your Welcome.**

 **I don't have time for review replies today, but I will next chap. Until then, peace out.**


	9. Breathe

**Ok, no review replies again - sorry - but I am in a huge hurry. Translations will be revealed next chapter because it's a plot point. Bye!**

After the tragedy that was the horrendous "Captain America" show, it started to rain. The wet droplets crashed across the ground and tents; personal and soldiers scrambled to find shelter. Steve eventually found refuge under a green tent, where he sat on a box, sketching in his art book. He grimaced at the pencil sketch in front of him - it was of a monkey doing a balancing act on a unicycle holding an umbrella and ball. Steve was loath to admit it, but it felt just like that - like a dancing monkey. He sighed and pulled away his pencil, eventually putting down the small green book with the same grimace.

"S-Steve?" a feminine voice said behind him, an all to familiar feminine voice. He turned in a hurry, rising to his feet in a blaze. Standing before him was the heavily disheveled form of Mary Rose; her hair was was knotted and appeared to have been unwashed as of late, bags were around her eyes, and her face appeared red and splotchy, as if she had been crying recently.

She had never looked so beautiful to Steve. He was so happy to see her.

"Mary?" he asked in an incredulous tone, taking a cautious step forward as if to make sure it really was her. "Mary, what are you doing here?"

"I was sent here with the SSR a few months ago," she explained, looking at Steve intently. "I would ask what you were doing here, but it's plainly obvious with the outfit."

"Yeah, it's quite ridiculous," he conceded, glad to finally admit it. The red, white, and blue body suit was uncomfortable, and at times straight up annoying to even think of at times. But if he wanted a job, what choice did he really have?

"I wish Bucky were here to see it," she said quietly, rubbing her arms gently as she said it.

"Well, maybe I'll get sent to his platoon," he offered. Something passed in her eyes, something extreme and foreign, something beyond the realm of seriousness. Anger. Hurt. Sadness. He couldn't tell what it was.

"Oh my goodness..." she whispered, blinking twice in surprise. "You didn't read my letter - you don't know."

"Know? Know what?" he questioned, taking another step forward. Whatever this was, it was obviously something serious, something shaking Mary. She took a breath, as if to steady herself before spoke again. Almost as if she couldn't speak without it.

"That audience was what was of left of the 107th, Steve," she explained, tears pooling in the corners of her eyes. "A few days ago they were sent out an mission deep behind enemy lines. 200 went...a little over fifty came back. And - and, Steve, Bucky wasn't with them."

At first the words didn't register in his head; the concept didn't seem to go hand in hand. Bucky was...missing. No, no, no! He couldn't be missing, he couldn't be! Bucky was here, he had to be, this had to be some practical joke Bucky roped Mary into preforming with him. But one look at the expression on Mary's face alerted to him that this wasn't a joke.

"Bucky's...gone?" he asked for clarification. Mary nodded once in distraught, as if even now she was still processing the news. Suddenly, Steve snapped into action, and gripped Mary's hand, and started to pull her out of the tent and towards Col. Phillips command tent.

"Come on!" he ordered, as he pulled his friend through the soaking weather, wetting her already messy hair.

"Colonel Phillips!" Steve called the minute they were in the tent. Inside was notably drier; fulling of bustling military officials, Agent Carter among them who appeared to be conversing with the notably non-military official of Elsa Fairchild, whom appeared to be here precisely because of the conversation.

"Well, if it isn't the Star Spangled Man With A Plan," the elder said in a bored tone, " as well as Dr. Barnes. Tell me, what is your plan today?"

"I need the causality list from..." he started, but was unable finish due to his lack of knowledge.

"Azzano," Mary supplied for him, Steve nodding once in agreement.

"You don't get to give me orders, son, and neither do you, doctor, I don't care what you invented," he chastised, looking between the duo with a stern look.

"I just need one name, Sergeant James Barnes from the 107th," Steve said, casually ignoring the implied reprimand of the last sentence. Phillips looked up, casting a look directly at Mary; his eyes narrowed at the young doctor. Obviously, they had been down this road before.

"You got Rogers in on this mad attempt to find your brother, now," he said with the same bored tone as before. Mary's eyes narrowed in return, and their was no doubt she had fought long and hard about this.

"He's alive, sir, I know it," she pleaded. Elsa walked over, and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. Steve sent a small glance in the direction of the woman, before directing his attention back on the Colonel.

"Mary, honey," Elsa said, "You can't possibly know that he's alive. It's been nearly two weeks."

"Well, I do know," Mary fired back at her friend, briefly directing her gaze at her. "And even if I don't and I'm wrong, they're are still others out there. People with families and futures, we need to go after them."

"Are you planning a rescue mission for them?" Steve asked in response to Mary's statement. Phillips heaved a sigh, ready for this conversation to be over. The last thing he needed right now was for a grieving doctor and chorus boy to give him any trouble.

"Yeah, it's called winning the way," Phillips said in an attempt to end the conversation. Despite it's intention, all it did was provoke more questions in Steve.

"But if you know were they are, why don't you at least -" he started, before he was cut off his superior.

"They're thirty miles behind some of the most heavily fortified territory in Europe," Phillips explained. "We'd lose more men than we's save, and have to move up the MASH unit a good few miles for a dangerous and mostly likely unsuccessful mission, something I expect Dr. Barnes and even Miss Fairchild as members of the MASH unit to understand, but I suppose I shouldn't expect you too because you're a chorus girl."

Steve's face was hard as iron as he spit out, "I think I understand just fine."

"Well, then understand somewhere else," the officer bit out in response as a means of dismal. "If I read the poster correctly, you have somewhere to be in thirty minutes."

"Yes, sir. I do," he said in an undefinable and stern tone. He turned to walk out, followed quickly by Mary, Elsa, and Peggy. Mary's breath come out labored; what they just down? If their was any chance that Phillips was going to go after them - her and Steve had probably just killed it.

"I'll be back," Steve said, as they walked into the USO tent at a brisk pace.

"Where are you going?" Mary asked worriedly. Steve was leaving already - she had already watched Bucky leave, what if Steve left and never came back as well. The brunette didn't think she could handle that as well.

"To get Bucky, where do you think?" he answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What?!" the three girls exclaimed, Steve quickly stuffing things into a bag. Elsa blinked once and turned to Mary with a confused look.

"Does he always have stupid idea like this?" Elsa asked as Steve started to walk away. Mary shook her head and quickly followed after; attempting to catch up to his brisk pace.

"Only when he's mad," she answered, before stopping in front of me with a stern look. He was a few feet from a nearby Jeep, and appeared frustrated at Mary's antics. He was going to get Bucky - why didn't she understand that?

"What's your plan, to walk to Austria?" she asked angrily, crossing her arms.

"If that's what it takes," he said, brushing past her and towards the Jeep. Mary turned and started after him again with the same angered look. Peggy steeped forward now, ready to interject into what appeared to be an already intense fight.

"You heard the Colonel, your friend is most likely dead," Peggy said, wanting to stop Steve from going as well. If Steve did this - Phillips was going to have his head when he got back.

"You heard what Mary said," Steve pointed out, quickly putting things in the back of the green vehicle. "We don't know that for sure."

"Steve, wait!" Mary said, walking up next to him. Steve froze, casting look in her direction. His blue eyes stared directly into Mary's as he began his next sentence, knowing this was the last ditch effort to get her - as well as Peggy and this Miss Fairchild - on board with what he was doing.

"When we were kids, you always told me that you believed in me. Did you really mean that?" he asked. Mary thought back to all the times she said that - back when they were younger and stuff like this was inconceivable. Steve was always doubting himself, and Mary always told him that even if he didn't believe in himself, she did.

"Of course I did," she supplied. "I've always believed in you."

"Then you're going to have to believe in me now," he said, slipping into the Jeep and starting the ignition. Peggy walked forward, and touched her arm. A look passed between them, and Mary knew that Peggy was behind this. Mary sighed and looked over at Steve.

"I can get you pilot," Mary said. "I just have to make a phone call. You and Peggy go ahead, he'll meet up with you."

"Peggy?" he asked, as Peggy slipped into the seat next to him a reluctant smile.

"She'll be a huge help, especially with your pilot," Mary explained.

%%%%%%%%%%

"Wait, so Mary secretly made a formula that made you a super solider?" Bucky asked, following after Steve. His feet were shaky, it was a marvel he was even to walk alone at all; although as soon as he was able he had waved off Steve's help. "As in, bow-wearing Mary?"

"Unless she has another, secret twin, yeah," Steve answered. The halls appeared to be empty as they climbed a ladder in a search for an exit. The rescue attempt appeared to be successful so far, from where Steve could see all the prisoners had managed to get out safely.

"What happened while I was here?" Bucky whispered mostly to himself. "How long was I here?"

They reached a wire balcony, and were stepping out to cross a bridge when two figures appeared at the end. One was tall and slender, dressed slickly in a black uniforms filled with decorations from his military, walking slowly to the bridge with a small, menacing smile. His companion was shorter than him, dressed in a lab coat and tie; Bucky's stomach turned at the sight of the two men - these were the ones that destroyed him the past few weeks.

"Captain America! How exciting!" the man - Schmidt- said in a stern but menacing tone. "I am a great fan of your films! So, Dr. Erskine managed it after all. Not an exactly an improvement, but still, impressive." His expression changed, and Steve began to slowly walk to the middle of the bridge to meet the German man. "Although, full credit doesn't belong to just him...he did have help from Miss Barnes, didn't he?"

"I believe it's _Dr._ Barnes, actually," Steve corrected, staring at the man with ice. Just over his shoulder, one could see Bucky making the same expression - how dare they bring his sister into this? After everything else?

"My mistake," Schmidt said with a tentative smirk, sending a glance back at the short man before returning his gaze to the blonde before him. Steve sent a punch directly at him, but it barely registered to Schmidt. It appeared to loosen something on his face though, despite it's ineffectiveness. Schmidt did likewise, his hand extended in a punch. Steve quickly raised his triangle, costume shield, leaving a fist-sized dent where the man and metal met. The blonde was sent flying back, falling to the ground. Before the American could regain his ground, the short man pulled back a lever, forcing the bridge to separate.

"No matter what Erskine or this Dr. Barnes may have told you, you see I was his greatest success!" Schmidt reached to his face, and he grotesquely pulled away the pale skin on his face - revealing a skinless face of scarlet.

"You don't have one of those do you?" Bucky thought aloud, unable to control his thoughts.

"You are deluded captain," Schmidt continued. "You pretend to be a simple solider but in reality, you are just afraid to admit that we have left humanity behind. And unlike you, I embrace it proudly and without fear."

"Then how come you're running?" Steve shouted. Before walking through the exit on the other side of the landing, Schmidt turned back and grimaced a smile. "Oh and tell Dr. Barnes this for me, _er ist tot, nicht nur du bist weg."_ And then he was gone.

"C'mon, let's go," Steve said, pulling himself to his feet. He quickly lead Bucky to a second seat of stairs. "Ready? One at a time?"

"Go!" Steve ordered, pushing Bucky onto a metal beam to wobble across to the other side. The already weakened man hurried as quickly as he could to the other end, wobbling the whole way.

"There's got to be a rope or something!" Bucky said as he was safely on the other side of the landing, staring across at his best friend.

"Just go! Get out of here!" Steve ordered, but they were ignored.

"No! Not without you!"

He looked around quickly, as if to make sure that their was no other way. Once that was concluded, he took a few steps back before running into a jump - hoping to sail across the other side.

%%%%%%%

"Senator Brandt, I regret to report that Steven G. Rogers went missing behind enemy lines on the third. Aerial reconnaissance has proven unfruitful, as a result I must declare Captain Rogers, killed in action. Period," Phillips narrated as he secretary took down the note, the enlisted man typing with hurried clicks.

He cast a glance at the distraught Mary, who was sitting in a chair with a sullen and far away look. He felt for the poor girl he really did - her brother and closest friend, appeared to both be dead, but really what could he do? Peggy entered the tent, passing by the young woman.

"The last surveillance flight is back," Peggy told Phillips, walking over to him and handing him a stack of papers. "No sign of activity." Even though she had never been particularity close to Steve, she still felt a sense of loss at his apparent demise - the world would be so much different without him.

"Go get a cup of coffee, Corporal," he said to the man, who promptly stood and left the tent. The officer turned to the two females in the tent, both looking very sullen.

"I can't tough Stark (Howard had flown the plane for Steve), he's rich and the army's number one weapons contractor," Phillips woefully explained to the two women. "You two, over, do not fall in that category."

"Don't blame this on her, Colonel," Mary said, looking over at him. "I'm the only one he would have listened to, and I let him go."

"With respect, Sir," Peggy said, ignoring Mary's comments, "I don't regret my actions. And I don't think Captain Rogers does either."

"What makes you think I give a damn about your opinions?" Phillips asked, surprised at the British woman's audacity. "I took a chance on you - both of you - and now America's golden boy and a lot of other good men are dead because you had a crush or wanted your brother back so bad you put innocent people at risk."

"It wasn't a crush," Peggy shot back, defending her choice. "I had faith."

"I hope that's a comfort when they shut this division down," Phillips scoffed. Suddenly, voices and noises belonging to neither of the three filled their ears; it was coming from outside the tent.

"What the hell is going on out there?" he said in his agitated state, as the three departed the tent in confusion.

Three hundred or so men were slowly making their was towards the camp, and Mary's hear swelled at the two people in front. Ignoring Phillips, she ran forward with as much power as she could muster. She landed right in front of him, and looked at him for the first time in nearly two and a half weeks.

Then she slapped him.

"What was that for?" Bucky demanded, rubbing his cheek where a red mark in the shape of her hand was forming. Mary sighed and crossed her arms, looking at him with a chastising look.

"That was for getting captured," Mary seethed, and Bucky looked ready to snark something back or defend himself, when suddenly a hug was embracing him.

"This is for coming back," she whispered into his shoulder, squeezing his neck with all her might. Eventually, Bucky returned the hug, burying his face in her hair. How glad he was to be back again - and back with his sister again. When they separated, he smiled.

"Let's hear it for Captain America!"


End file.
